"We didn't do anything specific because of the feedback [from SimCity's always-online requirements], but with all of our games we go through a lot of design iterations," he told Digital Spy.

"Something as important as The Sims 4 base game, we did a lot of work in making sure that we're providing the right foundation to build upon in the years to come.

"We like to give players a game they want. We listen to a lot of what our players are saying; we're always on the forums, we're always listening to people on Twitter and interacting with our community.

He continued: "We went through a lot of design iterations and we've settled on a single player, offline experience that's the one that we think is able to give players the best experience, the best gameplay, as well as being a foundation for us to create the content that they want in the future."

The Sims 4 is designed to be the most lifelike instalment yet, introducing emotional states, multitasking and group conversations.

Meanwhile, the creation tools will be far more tactile, with direct manipulation of Sims' physical features, and house building moving to a block-based system.